1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal-wire assembly with a plurality of wires mixedly including a copper wire and an aluminum wire.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a ground connection terminal is connected to an end of a ground wire as described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. H10-208815 to connect the ground wire included in an automotive wiring harness to a ground section of a vehicle. The ground connection terminal includes a wire-side terminal portion and a ground-side terminal portion. The wire-side terminal portion is shaped to be connectable to the end of the ground wire. Specifically, the wire-side terminal portion includes one crimping portion such as a conductor barrel to be crimped to a conductor exposed to outside at the end of one ground wire. The ground-side terminal portion is connectable to the ground section on a wall surface of a vehicle body.
Copper wires whose conductors are made of copper are frequently used as wires such as ground wires. In recent years, wires made of metals different from copper such as aluminum wires including a conductor made of aluminum have been used.
Here, the ground connection terminal as described above includes one crimping portion connectable to one ground wire, but it is difficult to collectively connect a plurality of wires mixedly including a copper wire and an aluminum wire to a ground section with high reliability. Specifically, a surface of a conductor of an aluminum wire is normally covered with an oxide film. Thus, the crimping portion needs to come into contact with the conductor made of aluminum by breaking the oxide film. Thus, a crimping degree higher than that for copper conductors is required. Further, since copper and aluminum differ in hardness, crimped states tend to vary. Thus, in the case of crimping the crimping portion to the aluminum wire at the same crimping degree as that in the case of crimping the crimping portion to the copper wire, it is difficult to maintain connection reliability.
Further, in the case of collectively fastening both the copper wire and the aluminum wire by one crimping portion, electrolytic corrosion may occur between different types of metals.
In the case of individually crimping a plurality of ground terminals to a copper wire and an aluminum wire, the number of the ground terminals increases. Thus, it is difficult to collectively connect a plurality of ground terminals to a ground section in a limited space.
The present invention aims to provide a terminal-wire assembly in which a plurality of wires mixedly including a copper wire and an aluminum wire are collectively connected to a predetermined section with high reliability.